Wednesday 29th April

What a start to the trip! News reports every day getting worse about the swine fever outbreak. Kept changing our minds about what to do. We had eventually decided to keep our flight to Cancun but to get out of Mexico and into Belize rapido and perhaps to drive ourselves rather than sit on a bus with lots of coughing locals! And then the foreign office advice came through not to travel and our flight was cancelled. HELP! Hard enough getting to Belize from Cancun, how on earth to get there now?

Andy emerged after several hours of googling and frantic phone calls with a solution. Cuba first! Now why didn't I think of that?

So we fly to Madrid, somehow get to the Cuban Embassy and get a visa before they close for the May Day holiday at 1pm tomorrow; oh yes and find somewhere to stay in Madrid tonight. Easy peasy!

Oh dear, it's the 50th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution - big celebrations in Havana... not easy to get a room... don't really know yet where we will fly to after Cuba as we really want to sit it out and see if Mexico would be an option in a few week's time... can't get a Cuban visa without a flight out, a hotel room for 2 nights when you arrive... and we still have nowhere to stay in Madrid!

Cutting an even longer story short, Andy was texting to confirm a room as we were sat on the plane watching the safety video - yes he turned the mobile off before we started moving!

Muchos bad parentos - the girls went to bed hungry as we had no food or drink and all the shops were closed - don't think they've realised that it means no breakfast either...

Buenos noches